Jesus Ahatonhia!

(First of three stamps issued in 1977, illustrated
by Ronald White, celebrating the Huron Carol —
an angel appears in the Northern Lights to three
Huron hunters.)


(The three Indian hunters follow the light.)


(They find the infant Jesus at a Huron lodge.)

Merry Christmas, Dear Readers.

The Huron Carol was composed by Father Jean de Brébeuf in 1643, a French Jesuit missionary who lived and worked among the Huron Indians in what is now Ontario. He wrote it in their language and set it to a sixteenth-century melody, Une Jeunne Pucelle (A Young Maid).

On her album This Endris Night, Canadian singer Heather Dale sings a tri-lingual version of this carol, in Huron, French, and English. The English lyrics she sings are by H. Kierans, a translation closer to the original Huron than the much better-known words, reprinted below, by J. E. Middleton.

To listen to her performance, click on the link (you may have to cut and paste):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6IG6F6E5Ac

JESUS AHATONHIA! JESUS IS BORN!

’Twas in the moon of wintertime when all the birds had fled,
That Mighty Gitchi Manitou¹ sent angel choirs instead.
Before their light the stars grew dim, and wand’ring hunters heard the hymn:
Jesus, your King, is born;
Jesus is born,
In excelsis gloria!²

Within a lodge of broken bark the tender Babe was found,
A ragged robe of rabbit skin enwrapped His beauty round.
And as the hunter braves drew nigh, the angels’ song rang loud and high:
Jesus, your King, is born;
Jesus is born,
In excelsis gloria!

The earliest moon of winter is not so round and fair
As was the ring of glory on the helpless infant there.
And chiefs from far before Him knelt with gifts of fox and beaver pelt:
Jesus, your King, is born;
Jesus is born,
In excelsis gloria!

O children of the forest free, O sons of Manitou,
The Holy Child of earth and heav’n is born today for you.
Come kneel before the radiant Boy, who brings you beauty, peace, and joy:
Jesus, your King, is born;
Jesus is born,
In excelsis gloria!

~ Jean de Brébeuf, S.J. (1593-1649)

¹ Gitchi Manitou — “Great Spirit” in Algonquin
² In excelsis gloria! — “Glory in the highest!” in Latin